Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Worth more than a thousand words

In three days, starting from my initial pledge to commit up to $1,000 to these organizations (if certain conditions were met), over $50,000 has been pledged by folks who wanted to stand with me. I’m deeply honored and humbled by this, both by the show of support for me, and rather more importantly, by the show of support for organizations focused on women, GLBT, people of color and those sexually abused. Thanks, folks.

As a way to show my appreciation, I commissioned a piece of art.

Now, as some background, out there in the stupider parts of the Internet, there are dudes who think of themselves as “alpha males.” My experience with these fellows is that they tend to be ignorant, status-anxious and undersocialized; they tend to mask their various panic attacks about race, gender and sexuality by maintaining those panic attacks are in fact a sign of their superiority. They disdain those who are comfortable with a world in which diversity is respected and encouraged — especially those who are men — and call them “beta” or “gamma” males and/or describe them as “rabbits” or some other species which they presume to be frightened or prey.

With that in mind, for those of us who are comfortable with diversity, who try not to be racist, or sexist, or homophobic, who don’t see the world as an apocalyptic zero-sum battle to the death between ourselves and whomever we try to hide our confused fear of by considering them as lesser beings, who aren’t in fact appallingly ignorant bigoted shitballs every single waking hour of the day, may I present to you an avatar — an icon, if you will, of who we are and how we choose to live our lives:

Yes, Gamma Rabbit, who likes people as they are, fears no one no matter how they live their lives, and who is comfortable with himself and his own personal values of kindness, tolerance and diversity. Sure, there are some who look down on him and his ways, but you know what? Gamma Rabbit knows that those people are kooky, silly, wacky racist sexist homophobic dipshits, and aside from looking forward to the day when they might pull their heads out and join the rest of the human race, lets them alone to do their own thing. Because Gamma Rabbit has other, better people and things to think about.

So to everyone who pledged so far, and to those who might pledge in the future: Here, have a Gamma Rabbit. My gift to you, with thanks.

Again, from the Alpha Game perspective, I'm less interested in the details of this particular gamma performance than what we can learn from observing it. Note the following things:

It's all about the gamma and his need for emotional sustenance. "I’m deeply honored... by the show of support for me". Rabbit People are drawn from all levels of the socio-sexual hierarchy, but the gamma-rabbit correlation is the strongest one.

Reality reconstruction. The gamma's description of the "alpha male" is not only obviously false, but is also completely dishonest. His experience with alphas was almost certainly nothing of the kind.

Psychological projection. Does "ignorant, status-anxious and undersocialized" better describe men who are socially and sexually dominant or men who behave in the observed manner?

Self-deceit. It took all of three days for the gamma to find an excuse to go back on his word and make reference to that which he had declared he would not refer to again until the end of the year. His feeble pretense that this response is somehow addressed towards all alpha males rather than a specific individual isn't going to convince anyone any more than his previous pretense to be enjoying the adorable attention was.

Avoidance of direct confrontation. The gamma has been challenged, by a third party, to engage in a debate in which he would have the opportunity to defend his beliefs. Instead of simply agreeing to the challenge, the gamma prefers to seek emotional support and engage in literally cartoonish antics.

Total inability to understand the thinking of the socio-sexually dominant. Note that the terms "rage" and "anger" keep surfacing in the comments, which is bizarre when it should be eminently clear that the primary response to the gamma antics have been "incredulity" and "laughter".

Now to return to the particular. As I mentioned on Vox Popoli, I fully endorse Mr. Scalzi's embrace of the Gamma Rabbit icon, and indeed, I have pledged ONE DOLLAR towards allowing him to demonstrate his commitment to equality and diversity by funding the cost of providing him with a full-color Gamma Rabbit tattoo.

68 comments:

Anonymous
said...

"Now, as some background, out there in the stupider parts of the Internet, there are dudes who think of themselves as “alpha males.” My experience with these fellows is that they tend to be ignorant, status-anxious and undersocialized; they tend to mask their various panic attacks about race, gender and sexuality by maintaining those panic attacks are in fact a sign of their superiority. "

Explain, what exactly is alpha about passive aggressive projection? The disconnect is obvious to those who actually live in the realm of "the alpha", who experience life through struggle, competition, honor, integrity, confrontation, and superiority in attaining women, something a lower gamma male liberal such as himself would be unfamiliar with.

What "men" (and I use this term very loosely when speaking of fembots)like Scalzi are familiar with is a lifetime of internal self loathing, predicated in their solipsistic effeminate narcissism. Since manboobz like Scalzi can't attain the constant attention/affirmation needed to bolster a "healthy narcissism" (disgusting liberal term I hear bandied about) like most femcunts can, their default position is one of lowly subservience in hopes that they present an ideal enough image to counteract said self loathing. Of course they still live in a constant state of anxiety, depression, and over all lowly emasculation due to the fact, as pointed out in the previous Vox post, rabbits love to turn on each other for even the slightest perceived slip in idealistic imagery; there is the ever constant threat of losing token ego stroking they receive from "OMGwumynZZ" if they don't do/say/behave/act accordingly to the ideology.

How dare a person ever deign to think for themselves and form their own opinion outside of group think.

Another way to look at it.. which man would you call insecure, a man who stands up for what he believes and confronts others regardless of the repercussions he might face in his anti-populist opinion? Or the man who passive aggressively jabs at his opponent under the guise of plausible deniability, scared to truly confront or tackle problems in his life, and instead living in a mental malaise to make certain his fragile feelings don't get exposed to the mean mean world?

i confess - when i started learning pickup i was comparing myself to 'alpha'...right now my notch count is in double digits, i have 3 girls and i am simply tired from sex.but i dont feel more alpha from that! picking up women is skill you can learn - some will learn it naturally, some needs books.so why brag about being alpha or not?

Funny how much time Scalzi spends trying to convince himself that people who don't think like him are lesser beings

As long as the recipient is a white westerner of course, I.E. "racists, rednecks, tea partiers, conservatives, etc." It is ok in the liberal mind to attribute genetic imperfection to these sorts of people (whites) and paint them with the brush of being "lesser beings", admitting in the process their belief in the role of genetics determining behavior, that "they will never be able to overcome their inherent nature." Of course it's not acceptable to the liberal to point this out about any OTHER race.. How they can manage to live in a state of perpetual cognitive dissonance is a whole other subject entirely.

this whole 'i am alpha' thing is starting to look little bit crazy now...everyone wants to be 'alpha' and 'even more alpha'

I agree in that memes generally tend to take off amongst there respective subcultures. Not everyone is going to be alpha, but undoubtedly those who aren't see the ones who possess those traits, and aspire to the same level of confidence and ability. I think the whole "cis/bi/genderqueer/lgbt/otherkin/rapefantasy" meme on the left is even more so ridiculous, and word of law in those circles. Around here, "alpha" is a designation that denotes common characteristics possessed by pack leaders in a large variety of biological animals that are sexually dimorphous.

i confess - when i started learning pickup i was comparing myself to 'alpha'...right now my notch count is in double digits, i have 3 girls and i am simply tired from sex.but i dont feel more alpha from that! picking up women is skill you can learn - some will learn it naturally, some needs books.so why brag about being alpha or not?

The common idea I see around the "manosphere" is that alpha solely denotes the ability to bed women, and I can understand this seeing as how if we were reduced to our base biological characteristics, it would be the alpha who would attain the largest share of females. However, IMO at least, given that we are pretty cerebral creatures I would say that alpha goes above and beyond the ability to procure females, and into the ability to lead, to inspire deferment in lesser men, and to be (over) confident in one's ability to "get the job done". My suggestion is start doing other manly activities outside of spreading your genetics, fix a car, DIY projects for your house, apartment, throw yourself into your job and excel over others, hit the gym, any number of things that inspire a confident and masculine mindset. That is alpha, at least to me. The women who hang off my dick is just an added bonus. For them. ;)

Note that the terms "rage" and "anger" keep surfacing in the comments, which is bizarre when it should be eminently clear that the primary response to the gamma antics have been "incredulity" and "laughter".

This is classic projection. The gamma feels rage and hatred for being slighted (perhaps a narcissistic injury) but cannot acknowledge that these icky emotions are coming from himself, ergo he concludes they must be coming from someone else: the subject of his hate.

There was a kid or 2 like this in high school. I grew up in a rural area where a lot people hunted. This one little dweeb wrote letter to the editor of the school paper being all dismissive and passive aggressively insulting hunters for needing to buy "big guns" because they weren't really men. Meanwhile, this kid was all of 5'1" and 105lbs, and he was trying to pick a fight with the entire high school. Initially people were all butthurt about it. He wrote another one though, and everyone just stopped paying attention since the little troll wasn't worth the energy.

What's the background on #5? I don't see an explanation in either post. I assume someone said Scalzi and Vox Day should have a debate? Crazy me, I'm curious to see how the challenge was actually made in order to evaluate the response.

This and his avatar is funny. Why not put a meme out there that getting fucked in the ass and swallowing the cum of whomever is doing the fucking, and make a cartoon/avatar out of that with a title of "This is empowering", while posting a blog post stating that getting fucked in the ass and swallowing cum is empowering?

This is how I perceive how he is trying to change the definition of "rabbit people" to be from something...."low" to a symbol of "power". How can people not see through this? His way of redefining "slut" and slutwalks.

Its funny that he embraced the label (gamma rabbit) in which he was criticized as being. This is contrary to how the disliking of labels should be handled.

I dislike labels because they are limiting. No one is either one or the other, but it is often the "liberals" that seem to embrace labels to separate others and win their objectives. It is a means to an end, which never ends.

Does this Scalzi honestly think that having a pink bunny as your mascot will get him laid?

Being a Gamma means always being in the friend zone and not understanding why you remain so despite your support of women's "rights". Does he not understand that women enjoy being desired by other men and that by not "treating them like objects", he is merely asserting his lack of manliness?

Sometimes I wonder if I ever was a Gamma. Then I see real Gammas in action and realize I was never that big of a wussy.

This is how I perceive how he is trying to change the definition of "rabbit people" to be from something...."low" to a symbol of "power". How can people not see through this? His way of redefining "slut" and slutwalks.

Tantamount to blacks taking back the N word, sluts taking back the slut word, etc.. given that is his only frame of reference for "empowerment" it figures that they would try to rationalize being gamma rabbits into something "empowering" by going the route of soft fluffy my little bronie style caricatures.

I'm so quaking with rage at the moment, how dare they take all invective out of being called gamma rabbits... :rolls eyes:

Does this Scalzi honestly think that having a pink bunny as your mascot will get him laid?

Just read some of the comments for the pitifully willful delusions of the perma-adolescent rabbit mentality.

"...My experience with these fellows is that they tend to be ignorant, status-anxious and undersocialized; they tend to mask their various panic attacks about race, gender and sexuality by maintaining those panic attacks are in fact a sign of their superiority. They disdain those who are comfortable with a world in which diversity is respected and encouraged — especially those who are men — and call them “beta” or “gamma” males and/or describe them as “rabbits” or some other species which they presume to be frightened or prey."

That ^^ is a hilariously poor interpretation of male social structure. It presumes that disdain for specific male behaviors between males is proof of an unfair structure of bigotry. It is a short-sighted and completely wrong viewpoint of male behavior through ignorant female eyes. This woman should simply shut up.

Daniel brings up an interesting point. This back and forth, especially on JS's part, seems almost too perfect. Either VD's insights into gamma behavior are so accurate as to be prophecy, or this is a scripted ballet. It all seems too perfect. I just can't beleve VD would stoop to such cheap chicanery.

I take back my previous statement, he is no quadrupling down. Hes like an idiot playing poker: you both know he has a pair of 2s but he thinks if he keeps betting into you, that you will eventually get intimidated and fold. And Why isn't the rabbit wearing a ballgag? Only really secure guys can explore their sexuality like that...

Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing.

The core of Poe's law is that a parody of something extreme by nature becomes impossible to differentiate from sincere extremism. A corollary of Poe's law is the reverse phenomenon: sincere fundamentalist beliefs being mistaken for a parody of that belief."

"Scalzi's Law" would state that it's nearly impossible to tell a sincere manboobed whiteknighting feminist mangina (MWFM) from a parody of one. To wit: Gamma Rabbit.

What just happened here? It hasn't been more than a week since you started poking Scalzi, and already he and his readers have thrown 50,000 dollars out the window and adopted a scared, wilting pink bunny as their mascot. Why are they doing this? Why do they keep acting like donating some money to the NAACP is going to upset you?

My take: Scalzi's attempt to get Vox to practice as John does - namely, to never mention the others' name. John figured it an ingenious binary conundrum that Vox would be stuck in, and would win John the distance from the humiliation that he keeps denying, no matter what route Vox would seemingly take. Ultimately, it seems to have backfired horribly for Scalzi.

Set-piece battles are normally prepared by those who seek direct confrontation and are competent at it, not by those who do everything to avoid it and who have no experience at such.

Gentlemen, may I ask permission to ask a question that is kind of off topic?

It seems that women need to be "put back in their place" in order for western civilization to fix itself. However, in order for that to happen, men would lose sexual partners/wives. Is this in part, the problem that we face?

As this question is off thread I understand that it may need to be deleted. Thank you.

John figured his "insult me and watch me donate" an inescapable trap for Vox, and would win John the distance from the humiliation that he keeps denying is taking place - or otherwise would win him adulation from his Warren by allowing Scalzi to throw a Pharisaic show of his charitable goodness in the face of evil, evil opposition (which consists of questioning, pointing, and laughing), no matter what route Vox would seemingly take.

The rabbit loaded the musket full of his own pellets and dared the wolf anyhow. At this point, the barrel's being pointed back at the wielder, by the wielder, and he's threatening - watch out - to pull the trigger.

What just happened here? It hasn't been more than a week since you started poking Scalzi, and already he and his readers have thrown 50,000 dollars out the window and adopted a scared, wilting pink bunny as their mascot. Why are they doing this? Why do they keep acting like donating some money to the NAACP is going to upset you?

Just wait. It will get even better. I already mentioned that by the time this ends, they'll be passing the hat to pay me tribute. And I don't mean that metaphorically.

merely an attempt to engage a K by luring them in close where they have a shot at observing and calibrating. r's crack from a K exerting force from a distance because it defies their rules of social order.

Time to get decidedly creative and non-social, and just wait till he suck starts a shotgun.

Rabbit People are drawn from all levels of the socio-sexual hierarchy,

Could you elaborate on this a bit? In particular, what sort of behaviors and attitudes would mark someone as both an alpha and a rabbit? I can imagine the term "alpha rabbit" being applied to some like Scalzi who's the unquestioned leader of his warren, but you've specifically labeled him a gamma.

"Embracing mediocrity" has turned into a "group hug". I think that is more Gamma than Rabbit but am not sure which has priority, the group or the hug.

I don't think there are Alpha Rabbits as such unless you consider the warren in microcosm, but that is about the same as trying to rank lambdas.

There may be a sub-hierarchy, but he who tries hard and succeeds at fitting in with the group and being utterly inoffensive is NOT alpha. You can be a good/bad, effective/ineffective, weak/mediocre/excellent gamma, but you are still a gamma. The omega female wolf will have an "alpha" bunny as a snack.

As amusing as the paradigm of the rabbit people existence may be, I'd appreciate refocusing on the alpha male behavior and the various interactions with the opposite sex whilst trying to establish perceived socio-sexual value. Thanks for what you do VD, and thanks to the rest of the red-pill community.

I didn't even know or care who this guy was until the recent barrage of posts, but after seeing that stupid rabbit I want to kick his ass. As a side note he looks just like a guy I went to school with that's the biggest Omega I've ever met.

"It seems that women need to be "put back in their place" in order for western civilization to fix itself. However, in order for that to happen, men would lose sexual partners/wives. Is this in part, the problem that we face?"

Aren't many men already without sexual partners/wives? (I don't know the percentage.) Women will be put in their place when more MGTOW? If things get bad enough, will women respond to brute strength alone and submit then?

That's great, SD, but what was your son's reaction exactly. Did he laugh like all of us? That would be perfect. Or, was he just generally unimpressed?

Yes, he laughed, especially at the bunny. He's a bit perplexed that grown men behave this way. So far there is only one kid he associates with from football who is like this and thought it was something he'd outgrow. He even tried taking him under his wing "dude, you gotta stop getting so worked up, you're getting laughed at." But to no avail, the kid just keeps on digging himself deeper with his irrational tizzies. If he'd just shut his mouth he'd be fine but he's a loud mouth.

Our son is pretty content being the Delta nice guy, learning how to not be every girl's friend than being that guy who they roll their eyes at and laugh.

I am someone who has come across Scalzi's blog before, do to my general interest in science fiction.

I've also been reading over the years a fair number of mansophere blogs due to my interest in game/understanding 'red pill' material. This is how I came cross alpha game plan -- via Susan Walsh's blog.

It seems to me that this dispute between Theodore Beale and John Scalzi is driven purely by Theodore Beale. There's seems to more aggression, anger and an eagerness to provoke coming from Theodore Beale, while John Scalzi is coolly responding and doesn't seem interested to take the conflict further than Mr. Beale is eager to. There's absolutely nothing alpha about Mr. Beale's behavior here, and even the pua Krauser has tweeted as much.

Let it go, Mr. Beale. You're looking kind of pathetic here to any impartial viewer. Incidentally, you're also losing the very fight you seem eager to continue. You are becoming the black knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

"while John Scalzi is coolly responding and doesn't seem interested to take the conflict further than Mr. Beale is eager to."

Hence the Gamma Rabbit illustration commission and t-shirt tie-in; chatting it up with Salon and other media outlets about his "homophobic dipshit" dilemma; ban-hammering dissenting comments, with group hugs all around for those goading him on at his blog.

The Electrolite exchange from '05 between Scalzi and Vox over female authors in hard-SF and the SFWA is instructive.

That is, before he's taken to task directly (and by more than Vox) on his claims and retreats into a dignified "I know you are but what am I" pincers maneuver, gathering behind what I gather was a comfortably warm meat-shield of fellow SFWAian commentators at the time.

And he nor anyone else ever did make a list of those hard SF female authors they kept saying were anything but statistical aberrations beyond a less-than-1% total.

You better be careful - that can't possibly be Scalzi's real website. Must be a catfishing scam. Over-the-top hyperbole is funny until the real Scalzi comes along and sues for damage to his reputation.

What could your lawyer tell the judge? Claiming that you believed an adult male wrote that website will get you fined for contempt of court.

There's seems to more aggression, anger and an eagerness to provoke coming from Theodore Beale, while John Scalzi is coolly responding and doesn't seem interested to take the conflict further than Mr. Beale is eager to.

Right, that's why Mr. Beale has been running to the media everywhere from the USA to Canada and the UK while Mr. Scalzi has just been kicking back and making the occasional comment on his blog.

I don't fail to understand anything. I'm just describing what I see as how it looks.

It's actually notable that Scalzi managed to raise 50K from you. I mean he has a pretty wide readership, it's petty to suggest that he himself ran off the to the media to announce that it happened rather than merely responding to their queries, much you like you did.

There's nothing "alpha" or "gamma" or "beta" in all of this. It's a bitch fight driven mostly by you, against someone who probably doesn't think about you near the extent which you think about them. That's the most off-puting thing about this: John Scalzi matters far more to you than you matter to John Scalzi. That's what Krauser meant.

It's actually notable that Scalzi managed to raise 50K from you. I mean he has a pretty wide readership, it's petty to suggest that he himself ran off the to the media to announce that it happened rather than merely responding to their queries, much you like you did.

Of course John wasn't sending out press releases, but there was no media interest at all until his fellow Tor author put that bit of journalistic malpractice in the Guardian. I never said his readership was small, our readerships have been very comparable since 2011.

John Scalzi matters far more to you than you matter to John Scalzi. That's what Krauser meant.

You have it precisely backward and Krauser is incorrect. I didn't care about Scalzi in 2005 and I don't care about him now. You don't seem to understand that this sort of thing is absolutely nothing new. Nine years ago, you would have been accusing me of being obsessed with Michelle Malkin for almost exactly the same reason. That wasn't true then. This isn't true now.

I finish things, no matter how long it takes. That's all it is from my perspective. It doesn't matter who it is or what the original trigger was. Scalzi fucked up by trusting Joe McKeon and he's been running away and trying to reframe ever since. It doesn't matter. It won't work. It never does.

And there definitely is something gamma in this. Namely, Scalzi. He screwed up, and rather than admit it or allow himself to be confronted on it, he's going through all these gymnastics. It's extremely funny. The problem is that you and Krauser simply don't understand what is going on here.

I'm just methodically turning over the rocks. Just wait, eventually you'll get it.